Poor Choices Certainly Not In Short Supply

MARY SANCHEZ TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES

Former Rep. Mark Foley is not an "October surprise." His problems are not fodder for midterm election strategy, by either party.

The situation is simply a sad statement on society.

Consider it this way: A man can reach 52 years of age, be astute enough to serve 12 years in the U.S. Congress and yet still be hiding his sexual orientation, hiding that he was molested, hiding that he is an alcoholic?

Not to mention he also got away with making advances toward teenage congressional pages, apparently for years.

Foley is safely tucked away at a Florida addiction center. Funny how public people with problems suddenly get whisked away to undisclosed rehab centers when they are caught doing something wrong.

May Foley be truly seeking the help he needs, and not simply hiding from the flak his actions created.

Meanwhile, back in Washington, Democrats want House Speaker Dennis Hastert's head in the form of his resignation. The effort is of the buck-has-to-stop-somewhere mentality. That's fair, given that Hastert was told of Foley's solicitations months ago.

But a lot of people apparently knew of Foley's inappropriate actions. The Washington Post reported that male pages were warned as far back as 1995 to watch out for the leering advances of Foley. Former male pages also told the paper they did not feel comfortable complaining about the behavior.

Such a congressional environment would have been nurtured for years, by members of both parties, long before Hastert added to it by not acting swiftly to end Foley's advances.

To be clear, being gay is not a crime. Pedophilia is. Yet this scandal is also proving that too many people still believe the two are entwined.

I'd lay money on the idea that some straight congressmen or their staffers, many of them married, make inappropriate come-ons to female pages as well. This is no less horrible, or damaging to the young person, than what Foley may have done. The genders of the victim and the predator are simply different.

Foley's homosexuality is not new news. In a better America, it would not be news at all. For years, alternative and gay publications have questioned the bachelor's sexuality.

Foley adopted not so much a "Don't ask, don't tell," approach, but "Stop asking, because I won't tell" stance. That was his right. But it also begs some questions.

If Foley, a Republican, belonged to a political party that was more welcoming of gay people, would he have hidden his sexuality?

If he grew up in a church that had long handled the expectation that its priests remain celibate with a more open-minded guidance on how to do so, would he have hidden the alleged molestation?

Foley declined to name the clergy member he is accusing, nor has he specified whether the person is a priest of his own Catholic faith. But it is not a large leap to assume his church's less-than-forthright handling of pedophile priests in the past may have influenced a young Foley's decision not to speak out years ago about the alleged abuse.

Ultimately, every man makes his own choices in life. Foley chose to stay closeted. He chose to drink alcohol. He chose to remain silent about the past abuse. And he chose to inappropriately approach young people. None of these poor choices are in short supply in cities across the United States.